Аннотация

At Easter, major magazines and blogs will publish articles claiming to tell us who Jesus was. Every few weeks we see a new book making similar claims. Is it possible to know? In Who Is Jesus?, Allan Bevere addresses this question from the point of view of a person of faith who takes seriously the gospels and early Christian tradition as documentation of events and of serious theological reflection on those events. According to Bevere, Christian theology was neither an invention, nor a set of random speculations unrelated to reality. Rather, they were the response of early Christianity to the experience of Jesus and the historical pictures as presented in the canonical gospels. From a discussion of the Old Testament record piecing together the puzzle of biblical messianic prophecy through illumination of the christological controversies of the first five centuries of Christian history, and then back to the four portraits of Jesus given to us in the canonical gospels, this book provides a clear description of how orthodox Christian scholarship can bring together the varied evidence in order to present a coherent theological picture of the Jesus of history. As Bevere contends, history and theology are not easily separated, but are two threads that create an interwoven tapestry in which events have meaning. This book is good for individual reading, or could easily provide readings and an outline for a small group study.

Аннотация

The Character of Our Discontent grew out of the author's conviction that pastors do not preach enough about the Old Testament. The result is 19 chapters, each of which represents a sermon on an Old Testament character. These sermons are lively, fast paced, and practical yet are rooted in sound scholarship and are examples of the homiletical art. Christians who would like to learn how the Old Testament can enlighten and guide their Christian walk, and pastors who would like to learn how to preach more effectively from the Old Testament will both find these sermons an invaluable aid. While Dr. Bevere specializes in the New Testament and theology, he believes that pastors (and academics as well) can preach and teach effectively outside their areas of specialty. Indeed, they must, and this teaching can enrich their own learning and the fields of study into which they venture. The Character of Our Discontent is an adventure in preaching and it invites us into the adventure of living in relationship with God, an adventure that has similar characteristics whether we are learning about God's call to Abraham or how a call to mission in Africa came to a contemporary English teacher nearing retirement.